This fireside chat from Techonomy 24 featured X. Eyeé, CEO of Malo Santo and Senior Policy Advisor at UC Berkeley, and had Emily Forlini, Senior Reporter at PCMag as its moderator. The discussion centered around the complex landscape of AI regulation in the United States, with a focus on recent developments in California, which has emerged as a leader in enacting AI policies.
Eyeé addressed the contrasting approaches towards AI regulation under different federal administrations, specifically highlighting the tension between innovation and regulation under the Trump Administration versus the multi-agency regulatory efforts during Biden’s presidency. California’s proactive measures in passing a series of AI-related laws, particularly addressing concerns such as generative AI transparency, AI in insurance, and AI-generated content in high schools, were showcased. Eyeé emphasized the need for specific, use-case-based regulations rather than broad, overarching policies.
The conversation also included a discussion on the flawed premise of the proposed AI Safety Bill, SB147, which was vetoed due to its reliance on cost as a metric for regulation. Eyeé highlighted the rapid evolution of smaller, specialized language models and their competitive potential against larger companies. The session concluded with anticipation for the outcome of legal challenges to California’s laws on AI in political campaigns, setting a precedent for balancing free expression and misinformation prevention on a global scale.
